My April Babies

This April marks a birthday month for the Anderson household. 

There's only 2 birthday months a year here--we make a big deal out of them.

Caithness Maela Anderson was born on April 11, 2009. (I should write that birth story out sometime--if you know Nessie you'll know how indicative of HER that trial was).

Caithness is a county in Scotland located in the highlands. You can actually see it looking northwest across the Moray Firth from Buckie.

Maela is an "Anderson creation." We wanted a name that would honour the Grandmothers, but do so simultaneously without hurting feelings. So Mary + Pamela = Maela.

That little fat face,

and ALWAYS frowning eyebrows.

Be still my heart.

Almost 2 years later, and SURPRISE, we're expecting baby number 3! 

Here's a story called I don't know how to do a pound sign on our keyboard.

I have the UK keyboard mode on and I get this £ when typing a hashtag.

That's why I quit Twitter, 

I can't function without hashtags.

Hashtags are my punchline, ya'll.

Just kidding,

I actually just don't like Twitter.

Aberdeen Daye Anderson was born on April 10, 2011.

She came into the world smiling, and beautiful, and sweet.

Her name is from the city here in Scotland. 

Aberdeen's middle name is from MY (Jordan, if y'all haven't heard--I'm not sure Mark even knows this blog exists) grandmothers. Darlene + Faye= Daye.

My younger sister, Catlin, also has this middle name. 

Yes, I stole it from my parents. 

I never claimed to be original.

So to present day:

Deenie (Aberdeen) has her birthday on the 10th...

which for the life of me I can't explain to Caithness, 

that even though she's older, Aberdeen's birthday comes first.

Aberdeen is 4!

Oh My Lanta.

Where has the time gone?

We had a Frozen party for both girls on this day 

because last year we had the party on Nessie's birthday.

I love decorating, 

and because I'm still somewhat unfamiliar with the UK party supplies it makes it a challenge to me.

Also, I think I've mentioned Pinterest and I have a love/hate relationship.

The love side is the amazing garland made from paper towels.

The hate side is that I still make doily looking snowflakes no matter how many times I study the awesome ones pinned on Pinterest.

The tight wad me (that's pretty much 100%) 

loved the fact that I could use party supplies I'd used in both my sister, Jillian's baby shower, and those leftover from Airdrie's first birthday party.

Also, I loved that I could use the £1 frames I had been saving.

A side note: it was ridiculous the amount of times I posed those Anna and Elsa Barbies.

No matter how hard I tried they always looked awkward.

You say:" Yeah, well Jordan they're made of plastic, so..." 

The cake was another Pinterest inspiration.

I didn't take any pictures of decorating it this year. 

Mostly because I was having the fight of my life having run out of my Wilton disposable piping bags.

Meaning I had to use some el-cheapo bags that split if you even looked like you were going to apply pressure to them.

I felt like Donald Duck in those cartoons where he's stretching every little part of himself trying to plug holes in a rapidly sinking boat.

...I do think it's the first time in my life I've felt like an animated waterfowl.

Also, y'all ain't gonna wanna eat those white chocolate snowflakes on the top.

And my apologies to those who did.

I was being extremely proficient and got them done a few days in advance.

When you have a household of children you store things in the only safe and cool place you can--

the laundry room.

The good news is that if you ate one you'd have Downy fresh breath.

Anna and Elsa themselves came to the party!

Aberdeen's face may look a little wonky...

Because hair chalk done in the form of a "super heroes mask" just does NOT wash off.

Please note how the big sister responsible for this has managed to convince the younger sister to let her wear the new birthday dress all the while

putting said hair chalk on neatly as make up on herself.

My beautiful almost 6 year old.

And my lovely 4 year old.

With a pink unibrow and neck.

*sigh*

We had a table laden with food.

All "Frozen" inspired.

That's imported Hidden Valley Ranch right there.

And my friend, Leslie's, fabulous chocolate fondue recipe.

Which is two ingredients and is the easiest and the best ever.

A Pinterest "Nailed It" moment here.

The giant plastic cups to hold the yogurt were a last minute fix.

I was a bit hacked when it was pointed out to me that the perfect sized, 

and slightly pricey, cups I'd purchased were in fact "Bomb Shot" glasses.

I'm not sure what those are actually used for, 

but I know they're not conducive to eating yogurt out of.

Jeepers H. Christmas

Straight from the package to plate.

That's what I'm talking 'bout yo.

Straight from my assistants, Hannah and Victoria's, crafty hands to the plate.

That's what I'm talking 'bout yo.

Annnnd still haven't mastered focusing my big camera.

Moving right along...

Caesar Salad a la Pam.

It was so yummy that after the party Vickie and I ate the leftovers straight from the bowl.

We had no regrets.

Pizzas that cost £1.50 are the best invention ever.

I made these puppies a week in advance.

Score some good planning points for me!

This may be me turning over a new leaf.

We made this .2 seconds before the party started.

Ahh, yes. That's the me I'm used to.

We ate.

We talked.

We watched movies on the giant screen.

The adults chatted while the kids played games.

It was all fun and good times.

They have these AMAZING candles here.

They're tiny fireworks for your birthday cake.

We did have the foresight to move the candles out from under the cotton ball "snowflakes."

*Pats fire-consiencious self on back*

The girls opened gifts.

This is more of an American tradition, but we've carried it on here.

It's precious to see the girls showing gratitude.

Also, Mark Anderson braided both our girls' hair.

Wha, what.

Reason number 295483 for marrying him.

We may not find pencils with the girls' names on them,

But you CAN find chocolate with their names!

Thanks Hannah,

And Victoria.

This party was made possible with all of your help!

Clean up quick and it's time to restart the next morning for Nessie's birthday!

No worries on that sad face the day before, Ness got her own fancy birthday dress.

To make Nessie's day special we rode the train to Aberdeen.

This was an adventure.

Aberdeen threw up on the carpet on the way out the door.

We were running late.

Aberdeen threw up in the car.

We made it to the train station with 38 seconds to spare.

The tickets wouldn't print out fast enough at the kiosk.

Mark left his Macbook in the car.

I didn't lock the car.

There were NO seats left on the train.

Mark and I rode for over an hour in jump seats in the corridor between cars each with 2 children on our knees.

This is normal for Anderson family outings y'all.

Fun times.

Nessie wanted to eat at the Handmade Burger Company.

Eating sweet potato fries and corn on the cob like a big girl.

How can she be 6?!

And her "birthday cake" for the day was a scoop of Baskin Robbins "Cotton Candy" ice cream.

Who else remembers the pink bubble gum flavour at BR? 

I ALWAYS got that as a little girl.

Then I discovered Winter White Chocolate and repented of my gum-in-ice-cream ways.

We went to the cinema to watch "Home."

After a quick shopping jaunt up to the American Candy Shop Ness requested a Big Mac for her supper on the train home.

This ride was much less eventful. 

We had seats, 

no one was throwing up (until 5 a.m. the next day), 

and Mark's laptop was safely waiting for him at the car.

Whew.

Happy Birthday to our precious 

Nessie Mae and Deenie Daye!

Our next birthday season hits in t-minus 6 months!

And a good time was had by all.